On The Verge: Dramatisation de la violence symbolique dans The Verge de Susan Glaspell

• Main Author: Emeline Jouve
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Presses Universitaires du Midi 2010-09-01
• Series: Caliban: French Journal of English Studies
• Subjects: émancipation féminine; expressionisme; femmes; patriarcat; théâtre américain; réception
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/caliban/2162

This article explores the representations of violence in Susan Glaspell’s play first produced by the Provincetown Players, the amateur theatre group that Glaspell and her husband, George Cram Cook, founded in 1915. In this work, the playwright sheds light on what sociologist Pierre Bourdieu later defined, in his seminal Masculine Domination, as "symbolic violence." Following Glaspell, we will examine the mechanisms of this masculine domination that oppresses her female heroine, Claire. The playwright also shows how women are able to counteract patriarchal violence and free themselves from the yoke of alienating conventions. The playwright does not trap Claire in the role of the passive victim but, instead, depicts her as a rebellious artist, Glaspell viewed her writing as political activism and encouraged active participation from her audience. This analysis will therefore consider the strategies used by the playwright to raise her spectators’ awareness of the issues surrounding symbolic violence.